For an overview of the Cisco Nexus 1000V system and procedures for configuring the software after it is installed, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4).

Audience

This guide is for network administrators with the following experience and knowledge:

•An understanding of virtualization

•Using VMware tools to create a virtual machine and configure a vSwitch

Information About the Software Installation

The Cisco Nexus 1000V software installation installs the VSM software required to create the VSM VM. Figure 1 shows an example of redundant VSM VMs, where the software for the primary VSM is installed on ESX 1, and the software for the secondary VSM is installed on ESX 2.

Figure 1 Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation Diagram

Prerequisites

This section includes the following prerequisites for installing the Cisco Nexus 1000V:

VSM Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to the VSM:

•We recommend that you install redundant VSMs. For information about high availability and redundancy, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V High Availability and Redundancy Configuration Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4).

•If you are installing redundant VSMs, make sure that you first install and set up the software on the primary VSM before installing and setting up the software on the secondary VSM.

2Install the second VSM of a dual supervisor pair as the secondary VSM.

•The VSM VM may run on ESX 3.5 or later.

•The Cisco Nexus 1000V software includes evaluation licenses for 16 CPU sockets for a period of 60 days. These licenses are used only if there are no permanent licenses installed on the VSM. The evaluation period of 60 days starts when you install the software. For more information about licenses, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V License Configuration Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4).

•You are familiar with the Cisco Nexus 1000V example installation that is shown in Figure 1.

Host Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to the ESX or ESXi hosts to be used for the Cisco Nexus 1000V:

•You have already installed and prepared the vCenter Server for host management using the instructions from VMware.

•You have the VMware documentation for installing software on the vSphere Client.

•You have already installed the VMware Enterprise Plus license on the hosts.

•There is at least one host for the Cisco Nexus 1000V. If you plan to use VMotion, you need two hosts.

•All VEM hosts must be running ESX or ESXi software version 4.0 Update 1 or later.

•A host requires a minimum of 2 GB of physical RAM. If it also hosts a Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM VM, it needs a minimum of 4 GB of physical RAM. If it also hosts the vCenter Server VM, additional memory may be needed.

•Each host has a minimum of the following physical NICs:

–One physical NIC for a Service Console or Management.

–One physical NIC for the traffic between VSM and VEM and for VM data traffic.

•All hosts must have Layer 2 connectivity to each other.

•If you are using a set of switches, make sure that the inter-switch trunk links carry all relevant VLANs, including control and packet VLANs. The uplink should be a trunk port carrying all VLANs configured on the host.

•The VSM can reside on a server running a virtual Ethernet module (VEM), or a VMware vSwitch or DVS. If the host is running a VEM, that VEM can be managed by the VSM on the same host or a VSM on another host.

Upstream Switch Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to the switch upstream from the Cisco Nexus 1000V:

•If you are using a set of switches, make sure that the inter-switch trunk links carry all relevant VLANs, including control and packet VLANs. The uplink should be a trunk port carrying all VLANs configured on the host.

•The following spanning tree prerequisites apply to the switch upstream from the Cisco Nexus 1000V whose ports connect to the VEM.

For more information about spanning tree and its supporting commands, see the documentation for your upstream switch.

–On upstream switches it is highly recommended that the following are enabled globally:

Global BPDU Filtering

Global BPDU Guard

–On upstream switches where you cannot globally enable BPDU Filtering and BPDU Guard, it is highly recommended that the following are configured:

(config-if) spanning-tree bpdu filter

(config-if) spanning-tree bpdu guard

Guidelines and Limitations

Use the following guidelines and limitations when installing the Cisco Nexus 1000V software:

•Do not enable VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) for the VSM VM because it is not supported. Instead, NX-OS HA provides high availability for the VSM.

•The VSM VM supports VMware high availability (HA). We strongly recommend that you use redundant VSMs and the NX-OS high availability, which can be used with VMware HA. Use the VMware recommendations for VMware HA. The host isolation response must not be set to Leave powered on. For detailed information about this setting, see the VMware high availability documentation.

•Do not enable VM Monitoring for the VSM VM because it is not supported, even if you enable VMware HA on the underlying host. Cisco NX-OS redundancy is the preferred method.

•If either your primary or secondary VSM is installed on the same server as the vSwitch, then a traffic interruption between them can occur when you migrate interfaces to the DVS. In this configuration, both VSMs take the active role, sometimes referred to as split-brain. If this happens, the primary VSM is reloaded when connectivity between the VSMs is restored.

•A single host can be used for both the VEM and VSM that manages it. For information about the VSM configuration, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4)

Installing the Software from the ISO Image

You can use this procedure to install the VSM software using the ISO image file from the CD.

Installing the Software from an OVA or OVF Image

You can use this procedure and your VMware documentation to install the Cisco Nexus 1000V software on a VMware server. This procedure uses the vSphere client Deploy OVF Template wizard to do the following:

•Creates a VM where the Cisco Nexus 1000V software is installed, reserves the required RAM, and sets the required CPU size.

•Maps VMware port groups to the VSM.

•If you are using the OVA installation file, it also applies an initial configuration to the VSM, including the VSM domainID, admin user password, and Management IP address, subnet mask, and IP gateway.

•Lets you choose the GUI or CLI setup dialog to set up the VSM configuration file.

For information about using the GUI or CLI to setup the VSM, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4).

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

•You have a copy of the following Cisco Nexus 1000V software image files on your local drive, depending on the installation type you are using:

Installation Type

Filename

Used with ESX or ESXi Host Software Version

OVA

nexus-1000v-4.2.1.SV1.4.ova

4.0 or later

OVF

nexus-1000v-4.2.1.SV1.4.ovf

nexus-1000v.4.2.1.SV1.4.disk1.vmdk

3.5

•For detailed information about using the Deploy OVF Template wizard, see the following VMware document:

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide

•You have the following information available for creating a VM for the VSM and mapping the required port groups:

–A name for the new VSM that is unique within the inventory folder and up to 80 characters in length.

–The name of the host where the VSM will be installed in the inventory folder.

–The name of the datastore in which the VM files will be stored.

–The names of the network port groups used for the VM.

–The Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM IP address.

•If you are using the OVA file for installation, then you have the following information available for creating and saving an initial configuration file on the VSM:

–VSM domain ID

–Admin password

–Management IP address, subnet mask, and gateway

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1 From the vSphere Client, choose File > Deploy OVF Template.

The Source window opens in the Deploy OVF Template wizard.

Step 2 Specify the source location and click Next.

Option

Action

Deploy from File

Browse your file system for the OVA or OVF template.

Deploy from URL

Specify a URL to an OVF template located on the internet. Example: http://vmware.com/VMTN/appliance.ovf

The OVF Template Details window opens displaying product information, including the size of the file and the size of the VM disk.

Step 3 Click Next.

The End User License Agreement opens.

Step 4 Read the Cisco Nexus 1000V License Agreement.

Step 5 Click Accept and then click Next.

The Name and Location window opens.

Step 6 Add the VSM name, select the folder location within the inventory where it will reside, and click Next. The name for the VSM must be unique within the inventory folder and less than 80 characters in length.

The Host or Cluster window opens.

Step 7 Choose the host or cluster on which to install the VSM and click Next.

The Datastore window opens.

Step 8 Choose the datastore in which to store the file if one is available and click Next.

On this page, you select from datastores already configured on the destination cluster or host. The virtual machine configuration file and virtual disk files are stored on the datastore. Select a datastore large enough to accommodate the virtual machine and all of its virtual disk files.

•If you are installing software on a primary VSM, specify the following properties for your primary VSM, and then click Next:

–VSM domain ID

–Admin password

Note All alphanumeric characters and symbols on a standard US keyboard are allowed except for these three: $ \ ?

–Management IP address

–Management IP subnet mask

–Management IP gateway

•If you are installing software on a secondary VSM, specify only the following properties for your secondary VSM (all other properties are acquired on synchronization with the primary VSM), and then click Next:

–VSM domain ID (Use the same domain ID entered for the primary.)

–Admin password (Use the same password entered for the primary.)

Step 14 In the Ready to Complete window, if the configuration is correct, click Finish.

Where to Go Next

After you have installed the Cisco Nexus 1000V software and powered on the VM, a setup dialog starts automatically. This setup dialog, available in either a CLI or GUI version, prompts you for the required information for your initial Cisco Nexus 1000V configuration. You must configure the VSM before its ready for use.

For detailed information about powering on the VM and continuing the setup of your Cisco Nexus 1000V, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(4).

Note If you are installing redundant VSMs, make sure that you configure the software on the primary VSM before installing the software on the secondary VSM.

Available Documents

This section lists the documents used with the Cisco Nexus 1000 and available on Cisco.com at the following url:

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What's New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

Subscribe to the What's New in Cisco Product Documentation as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service and Cisco currently supports RSS Version 2.0.

This document is to be used in conjunction with the documents listed in the "Available Documents" section.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in the examples, command display output, and figures within this document are for illustration only. If an actual IP address appears in this document, it is coincidental.